Looking at Mars? Try to find this little fella while you are there.

[Tim]

Just up and to the right of Mars at the moment, (dec 20 2009) there is a beautiful barred spiral galaxy, designated ngc 2903. It is mag 8.something, so should be doable visually.

Last night I pointed my camera at it for 10 mins to get a clue as to what to look for.

As an extra challenge, ngc2905 is very close by, but a lot fainter and smaller, mag 11 IIRC, but worth looking for if you find 2903.

Here's a (poor) pic of 2903.

Cheers

TJ

[dark knight]

Nice one Tim, if the snow doesn't arrive I'll give this one a go...Are you planning on getting more data for this, It certainly has potential, that's a great result for just 10 mins...

[Scott Tilley]

Hopefully clear tonight and I will give this one a try too Tim.

Cheers

Scott

[Tim]

You can guage its position in Stellarium quite well, but i'll post a full frame shot in a moment as that might help find it.

I will come back to this at a longer focal length, with a smaller camera, to get in real close, I think it has great potential photographically. Usually the galaxies I go for are mag 12+, but seeing this one at 8, I thought you 'proper' astronomers might be able to pick it out.

[Bizibilder]

There seems to be a lot more galaxy hiding in that image!! It will be interesting to see the outcome of this.

[Tim]

Full frame, which shows two nearest bright stars. Bottom right is the other fuzzy, I think ngc2905.

Not sure on the orientation of the shot unfortunately.

Cheers

[DarkerSky]

Thanks for the heads up on that galaxy. Will try to track that down....if it ever stops snowing..!

[DarkerSky]

Grabbed a look at NGC 2903 last night, just before packing up my 16"... WOW! I was bowled over by it actually. Very easy to find. Saw an obvious central brightening that seemed to elongate N/S. It's central core also seemed 'twisted' against the outer nebulosity, which began to curve away at both ends.

Unfortunately my secondary began to dew up again, so I called it a night without looking at it in any great depth. Top of my observing list for next time out though ...and I'll see if I can bag NGC 2905 too

[Beulah]

Yup, it's a lovely galaxy. Looking forward to finding it.

It's pretty emotional seeing Leo move into the skies again, as it was the first constellation I explored properly in April last year...*sigh*

[Beulah]

Just up and to the right of Mars at the moment, (dec 20 2009) there is a beautiful barred spiral galaxy, designated ngc 2903. It is mag 8.something, so should be doable visually.

Last night I pointed my camera at it for 10 mins to get a clue as to what to look for.

As an extra challenge, ngc2905 is very close by, but a lot fainter and smaller, mag 11 IIRC, but worth looking for if you find 2903.

Cheers

TJ

Found it last night - what a lovely, neat galaxy from our perspective!